I'm going back on Tuesday and wish I could go more, but my own job is there to do too

Thanks for all your effort Habiti. I'm reading things from staff & volunteers (heresay & rumours not likely) but like some I too believe them. It's said the atmosphere is like night and day; people working as a team, place getting cleaned up, music allowed to be played - perhaps now there's hope for the animals, staff & volunteers.

Heartening to read about the positive change going on there, please keep us updated, good luck today

__________________
In rescuing animals I lost my mind but found my soul
~ anonymous ~

I wondered why Tim, who was on the board was also running the place, isn't that a conflict of interest?

I really don't know L4H...... Jim Sykes who now has a newly invented position at the OSPCA was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the OSPCA and also head of the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA (an affiliate), so I guess that it is allowed

WOW,that's all I can say:sad:I have no doubt what so ever the letter is accurate..

I was talking to Luba for an hour on the phone yesterday,I don't know how many of you knew her,but I trust her completely to be fair.
She herself has 4 cats(strays)whom she's had s/n,which she can ill afford and her mom is terrified of cats.
She's involved with the TCR and has the cats up for adoption/foster with them,but there are just too many cats..

She told me about the problem with THS over many years,also how on the THS FREE adoptions of cats/dogs,the animals were adopted out in-tact:sad:
If you are not part of the solution(spay/neuter)you are definetly part of the problem.

As for the $450.000+in lawyers-fees for animal-cruelty charges,taken from the donation-pot supposed to care for animalstalk about conflict of interest

A judge in Toronto has ruled employees of the Toronto Humane Society can go back inside the shelter next week.

Workers have been barred from entering the shelter on River Street since late November, when the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) executed a search warrant on the building, the Toronto society says.

The OSPCA raided the building on Nov. 26 and arrested and criminally charged five top Toronto Humane Society (THS) officials with cruelty to animals.

The humane society had been fighting to quash the warrant that led to the investigation and for staff who weren't criminally charged to be allowed into the building.

While Tuesday's ruling is a partial victory - 35 THS staff will be able to enter the shelter on Dec. 29 - areas housing animals will remain under the control of the OSPCA as it continues to investigate what one official called a "house of horrors."

The staff members who have been allowed to enter the shelter are mostly senior managers who do finance and administrative work, said society laywer Frank Addario.

But it is unclear when - or if - the society will be able to put up more animals for adoption.

Investigation has continued for 4 weeks

The Toronto Humane Society alleged the search warrant had overreached its original mandate.

In documents filed in Ontario Superior Court, society lawyers said the judge was initially told the search would only take five days, not the four weeks it has now stretched into.

"The OSPCA has effectively used the search warrant to seize control of the operations of the THS, and has repeatedly frustrated the ability of the THS to maintain its operations and business by denying THS employees access to essential THS records and computer systems," THS lawyers wrote.

The humane society has also decried the public nature of the OSPCA's investigation. The OSPCA has been very public in its investigation, holding news conferences, providing updates to reporters and conducting a media tour of the shelter.

"It can reasonably be said that this type of conduct is unprecedented. Counsel can locate no case in which a professional investigator has behaved comparably," THS lawyers wrote

ctvtoronto.ca
Only about one animal in 20 at the Toronto Humane Society is currently healthy enough to be eligible for adoption, says the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Rosalind Ryan, an OSPCA spokesperson, said she's been told that because of age, conditions, disease and animal temperaments, only about 50 to 60 animals would be good candidates for adoption at the present time.

There are more than 1,000 animals at the River Street shelter.

"I think there are areas for improvement, but there are areas that have improved," Ryan said.

"Although we don't have the answer to when adoptions will start, OSPCA and THS are working collaboratively to come up with a date so that that can start because we all want that to happen as soon as possible."

Toronto Humane Society staff were allowed back on the job Tuesday, more than a month after the shelter was raided by authorities investigating allegations of animal cruelty.

About 35 employees have been allowed to re-enter the building. However, former president Tim Trow and four senior employees are not allowed to return as they are facing animal cruelty charges.

"This has been a difficult five weeks for all of us as we have been prevented from doing what we always strive to do, which is to treat sick, injured and abandoned animals and find them a good home or return them to their natural environment," he wrote in a statement.

The OSPCA executed a search warrant at the THS headquarters on Nov. 26.

The warrant was issued after following a six-month OSPCA investigation. It began the probe after reports claimed the shelter refused to euthanize animals leaving them to suffer instead.

OSPCA investigators claimed the building was a "house of horrors" after they found a mummified cat and a number of animals in distress.

Investigators said seven animals had to be put down. The THS has argued it's a hospital trying to return animals to health, not simply euthanize them.

THS spokesperson Ian McConachie said in a news conference Monday that staff are happy to get back to work.

"This has been a difficult five weeks for all of us, as we have been prevented from doing what we always do, which is treat sick, abandoned animals and find them a good home or return them to their natural environment " he said, reading from a written statement.

"We are pleased the court has recognized the unending occupation of the THS has to stop."

He said the board is in the process of recruiting a new executive director and appointing an advisory committee of animal experts to assist in the care of the approximately 11,000 animals that are brought to the shelter each year.

The OSPCA will still retain control over the care of the animals. The THS will keep control of finances and administration.

The Humane Society is still not open to the public or accepting new animals, and people who find animals in need are being asked to call City of Toronto Animal Services at 311.

Hmmmm, I wonder how many of the animals who are not "healthy enough to adopt out" are sick due to stress of shelter life, wonder if they would do much better being adopted out into a home? Wonder if the OSPCA is actually doing these animals a favour by not allowing them to be adopted out? I know with my fosters who have been sick when I have brought them home and recovered very quickly once they were in a home environment.

Not sure what euthanization rate the TAS has, but I thought it was high? Perhaps somebody will be able to post that info. Sooooooo, if animals have to be brought there, wonder how many are being euthanized?

And lastly, wonder how many people have opted to adopt from pet stores or BYB due to this mess?

Just some of my thoughts on this mess between the THS and OSPCA and wonder how many pets will loose their life with OSPCA taking over. Not that I am defending the THS as I don't have any direct knowledge of their administration, but as an outsider reading the media coverage, I just wonder if the animals won't somehow suffer from this public mess.

Hmmmm, I wonder how many of the animals who are not "healthy enough to adopt out" are sick due to stress of shelter life, wonder if they would do much better being adopted out into a home? Wonder if the OSPCA is actually doing these animals a favour by not allowing them to be adopted out? I know with my fosters who have been sick when I have brought them home and recovered very quickly once they were in a home environment.

Not sure what euthanization rate the TAS has, but I thought it was high? Perhaps somebody will be able to post that info. Sooooooo, if animals have to be brought there, wonder how many are being euthanized?

And lastly, wonder how many people have opted to adopt from pet stores or BYB due to this mess?

Just some of my thoughts on this mess between the THS and OSPCA and wonder how many pets will loose their life with OSPCA taking over. Not that I am defending the THS as I don't have any direct knowledge of their administration, but as an outsider reading the media coverage, I just wonder if the animals won't somehow suffer from this public mess.

It's said over 800+ animals CANNOT be adopted due to behavioural or health issues :sad: IMO nothing to do with "the mess" ... assuming you mean since the raid Nov 26. If people opt to buy from pet stores or byb's or animals have to be euthanized due to illness the OSPCA shouldn't be blamed, their trying to undo the mess not create one

It's said the THS is now working with rescues which Trow considered "a signal of failure"

In this 2007 file photo, Tre Smith cuddles Cyrus, a Rottweiler he rescued from dehydration after handcuffing the dog owner's to his car while he gave the animal water. The owner was attacked by a crowd during the incident and later pleaded guilty to animal cruelty.
TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
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Drama continues at the Toronto Humane Society after another high-profile employee, Tre Smith, was arrested Thursday afternoon. Charged with one count of perjury and two counts of impersonating a peace officer, Smith is accused of continuing to act as an investigator despite being suspended last June.

To many, Smith was the public face of the Toronto Humane Society. He pulled heartstrings on CP 24's Animal Housecalls, where pet owners called in with their questions, and THS animals available for adoption were profiled.

In July 2007, Smith made headlines after a dramatic rescue of a rottweiler that had been left in a car on a blistering summer day. He smashed the car window to rescue the dog, who was foaming at the mouth, then handcuffed the animal's owner to the car.

That was the first time the OSPCA suspended him as an animal cruelty investigator. The second time was last June, as part of an ongoing investigation at the Humane Society that saw five other key staff members charged with animal cruelty and obstructing peace officers last November.

"It's alleged he continued to act as an SPCA agent despite his suspension," Chris Avery, lawyer for the OSPCA, said of Smith on Thursday. OSPCA investigator Kevin Strooband, who is heading up the THS case, said Toronto pet owners had confirmed Smith had presented himself as a provincial investigator when meeting with them and their animals in their homes.

Strooband said the perjury charge is related to an affidavit Smith signed in October, in which he claimed not to have been acting as an investigator after his suspension.

With a defiant sway to his gait, Smith said nothing as he was taken out of the THS headquarters at Queen and River Sts., wearing just jeans, a T-shirt and a ski vest, and put into a 52 Division police car.

Strooband and the OSPCA also laid charges earlier Thursday against Mark Beauchamp, an animal cruelty investigator based in Newmarket. They allege that Beauchamp tipped the THS off about last November's arrests, leading staff to move and hide animals. He has been charged with one count of obstructing a peace officer, and was fired as an OSPCA employee.

Who wasn't happy when Tre Smith rescued a dog from a sweltering SUV but handcuffing the guy leaving him with an angry mob before the police arrived ...not too smart. Even after he was suspended he continued to wear his uniform whenever he was interviewed IMO showed a lack of respect for the law.

Now suspended again & charged with (IM)personating a peace officer & perjury Does he think he's above the law or something?

If it proves the other guy Mark Beauchamp did tip off the THS prior to the raid ... that's just a shame!

__________________
In rescuing animals I lost my mind but found my soul
~ anonymous ~

Who wasn't happy when Tre Smith rescued a dog from a sweltering SUV but handcuffing the guy leaving him with an angry mob before the police arrived ...not too smart. Even after he was suspended he continued to wear his uniform whenever he was interviewed IMO showed a lack of respect for the law.

Now suspended again & charged with (IM)personating a peace officer & perjury Does he think he's above the law or something?

If it proves the other guy Mark Beauchamp did tip off the THS prior to the raid ... that's just a shame!

I agree what he did was not right, but I would feel the same if one of our members got arrested because they trespassed to rescue a dog/cat who was being neglected. :sad:.

I don't think Tre Smith trespassed to rescue any animal. He continued to wear his OSPCA Agent flashes when the THS lost their affiliate status, so basically he was impersonating a Peace Officer.......As far as committing perjury, that's another can of worms.

I don't think Tre Smith trespassed to rescue any animal. He continued to wear his OSPCA Agent flashes when the THS lost their affiliate status, so basically he was impersonating a Peace Officer.......As far as committing perjury, that's another can of worms.

Not sure what euthanization rate the TAS has, but I thought it was high? Perhaps somebody will be able to post that info. Sooooooo, if animals have to be brought there, wonder how many are being euthanized?

I heard the THS had a no-kill policy and that is the main reason a lot of the animals were sick and some dying. I also heard there were way too many cats there for the space and cages available to be able to keep them healthy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Girls

Who wasn't happy when Tre Smith rescued a dog from a sweltering SUV but handcuffing the guy leaving him with an angry mob before the police arrived ...not too smart. Even after he was suspended he continued to wear his uniform whenever he was interviewed IMO showed a lack of respect for the law.

Now suspended again & charged with (IM)personating a peace officer & perjury Does he think he's above the law or something?

If it proves the other guy Mark Beauchamp did tip off the THS prior to the raid ... that's just a shame!

I agree he wasn't too smart to handcuff the guy to his car but if I remember correctly the only reason Tre Smith handcuffed him was because the guy was trying to prevent him from rescuing the Rotti, but it's possible I'm wrong.

As for Mark Beauchamp, if he did what they say, then he wasn't trying to protect the animals, only the people at the THS. How sad

Quote:

Originally Posted by Love4himies

I agree what he did was not right, but I would feel the same if one of our members got arrested because they trespassed to rescue a dog/cat who was being neglected. :sad:.

From what I've read and seen on TV about Tre Smith, everything he's done has been for animals, even while he was impersonating a peace officer. I can't condone what he did, but at least he was thinking about the animals, not the humans who worked at the THS. I agree with L4H, though what he did was against the law, I don't think he should be thrown in the same boat with Trow and the others. Just my 2¢

I've been thinking about this this afternoon and the whole affair seems to be losing focus...it's suppose to be about the animals, now, that doesn't appear to be in the equation what with the nitpicking that seems to be going on.

If Mark Beauchamp did tip off the THS about the June raid, would it not just be suffice to fire him and not charge him?

Also, in the CBC News report that I read, it said that "further arrests could be made".